The present invention relates to methods for electrical treatment of body tissues and muscles and more particularly to percutaneous pain alleviation by application of electrical pulses to external areas of the human body experiencing pain.
Electrical pulse generators have long been known for use for various medical purposes. The use of such devices, however, has been limited due to the sometimes painful and noxious side effects porduced by such devices. Such undesirable side effects have been variously attributed to excessive voltages, improper pulse frequencies and/or wave shapes and unduly lengthy periods of application of the electrical pulses to the body. The cumbersome and unwieldy bulk and weight of such known devices has further limited the use of such devices at fixed locations, to wit, at the physician's office, the home, etc.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pain alleviation method and a method of percutaneous pain alleviation in which the amplitude and pulse repetition frequency of the electrical output pulses is selectively variable by the user.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a percutaneous pain alleviator for carrying out the method described which is compact, lightweight and suitable for concealed wear by the user.